Baby blanket, beddiebyes
One more time the beddy rhyme
Tied to those our lost and gone
Child of warm and inner cirque
Hand in hand, the small in big
Schooldays, homework, hide and seek
End of week allowance paid
Food and garb, a tent for twelve
World so small with borders sharp

Authorities’ duty
To nurse and disperse
To give and forgive
To prize and surprise
To turn and return
The inherited set

Test, protest and parting fear
Cracking shells from inside out
Like the hatching chickens do
Hedge horizon, rural views
Unsafe, unsure, cocksure
Deadline stress, routines, demands
Lost illusions gone too soon
Grown-ups giving in and up
Masks and walls to hide behind
Week and wage to match and make

Shipwrecked souls
Seeking substitutes
In mentors and work
In parish and play
In network and gang
Fraternity friends and
Bought brotherhoods

The confined comfort passed and gone
Replaced by restless rest
In short-term shelters
The recognized identity
Engaged in chameleonic roles
On sundry stages
Relaxed ignorance
Replaced by global concern
For unknown fellow-men
The homespun ordinary
Distressed by cultural complexity
Compassionate conservatism
Is facing hard core capitalism
Mates for the occasion
Gone are good, old friends
Scattered dwellings referred to
As a place called home
By a past boundary marker
The cocooning security
Has turned to fictional freedom
Cultural change and
Prospective progress